The Nexus Q was one of Google’s rare misses. The ‘first social streaming media player’ was announced along with the Nexus 7 back at Google I/O 2012, while the Nexus 7 became quite a success story and is probably what has led to the emergence of the 7-8 inch budget tablet market. The fate of the Nexus Q was in stark contrast to that of the Nexus 7 being an utter failure. While its tablet cousin sold millions around the world Google decided to scrap the Nexus Q before it even came into market. The problem with the Nexus Q was unlike most other Nexus devices, it didn’t offer great hardware for the price, instead it lacked features of its competitors and was priced higher, the only redeeming feature being the beautiful shell it was encased in.
With the Nexus Q fading into obscurity many have wondered whether or not Google would revive the product at this years Google I/O updating the hardware and features so it could compete head to head with its rivals, unfortunately while Google did show off a plethora of new software features at this year’s I/O no new hardware was announced and so the fate of the Nexus Q is still unknown. Worst yet with the latest updates to Google Services in particular Play Music, these new apps don’t even support the Nexus Q anymore, a fact that has been confirmed by many owners of the device. While Google Play Support claim an update is coming to the Nexus Q, Google has yet to release an official statement on the matter. Unfortunately the Nexus Q might be confined the pages of history and even if there is a public outcry against it, Google already has plans to axe significantly more popular services despite the views of consumers.
While Google’s apparent intent to cease support for the device might seem like the ultimate insult to its owners, keep in mind when Google cancelled the device’s launch they ended up sending one free of charge to all of those that placed an order. Also, Nexus devices are meant to be ‘pure’ Android devices aimed towards developers, so given time the modding community for Android will eventually figure out a fix to resolve this issue and potentially introduce software features that will inspire Google to revive the device.
Source: Engadget